Page 67 of Challenge
“Kids can be the worst kinds of sods.”
“I remember thinking that if that was how normal people behaved, I didn’t want to be normal. I couldn’t imagine losing my virginity that way. After all of that, it was so difficult for me to open up to girls. I didn’t have a single true friend until I met Belle in med school. It even took some time for me to share all this nonsense with her. But once I did, she helped me see that it would be better to have a game plan to empower me instead of me being scared of the unknown.”
“It’s not a horrid idea when you put it like that,” he says with a thoughtful look. “What did your parents say about that bus incident?”
I shake my head. “I never told them. Their work is their priority, so I’ve never really had a relationship with them like that where I shared school stories. And my grandmother was so old, I couldn’t stomach the idea of telling her that sort of thing. She would have lost complete faith in humanity.”
He gets a desolate sort of look in his eyes. “I can’t imagine what that kind of family would be like. Bloody hell, mine knows everything about me at all times. We are in each other’s business, in each other’s homes, eating weekly meals together, traveling together, and going over match footage. Vi gives the best gifts, and Tanner is constantly pranking everybody. Gareth has such a large heart, but it’s silent and that makes me scared for him. And Booker is still so impressionable. Ensuring he’s on the right path is so important. My family, Indie…I cannot escape them even if I tried. Your upbringing is like another world to me.”
His rant is unexpected; my reaction to it even more so. His long string of words feels like a knife repeatedly jabbing my heart with every bullet point he ticks off. They sting, even though I know he doesn’t mean for them to. He’s obviously releasing something that weighs heavily on him; but, out of nowhere, the twelve-year-old girl inside of me begins to weep, which is odd because I’ve never allowed myself to feel upset over something I’ve never known. My family is my family. I don’t know any different. I’ve created a life of near solitude for myself, so why are his words cutting me so deeply?
My face heats as the presence of tears swell in my eyes.
“Fuck, Indie.” Camden’s face falls as he drops his fork. The chair scrapes loudly against the floor, and he rushes over to me. He squats down beside me and cups my face in his hands. “I don’t know what I said. Christ, I’m so pent-up about my family lately, I think I blacked out. I didn’t think.”
I stiffen and turn away from him. “Please don’t look at me,” my voice cracks. “I’m fine.”
“God, no, Indie. I have to look at you. I caused this. I am such an idiot. Please. Look at me so I can make this better.”
“There’s nothing you can do to make it better.” I laugh-cry an awkward, mortifying sound. “This is so stupid.”
“No, it’s not. If it involves anything about you, it can’t possibly be stupid.”
“Please, Cam. Just go. I need some space.” This is worse than the time I told him I was a virgin. I want to die. I want to crawl into a hole and die.
“No,” his voice is earnest. “You don’t need space right now, Indie. Let me show you.”
“Show me what?” I huff in frustration and snap my eyes to meet his.
My embarrassment is almost snuffed out entirely by his expression. I don’t see sorrow or pity or judgement. I see…more. Unexpected…more. I gaze into the sapphire depths of his irises and I feel…lost.
Camden’s eyes follow the movement of my teeth chewing on my lip. His dark lashes fan his cheeks in that utterly beautiful way he has about him. Swallowing once, he strokes his thumb down my cheek over and over, watching me as if he’s trying to count every freckle on my face. Finally, he pulls my mouth to his and brushes his tongue along the opening of my lips, requesting entry. I comply because I’m desperate to feel like anything other than that lost, lonely girl I reverted into thirty seconds ago.
His hands move down to my thighs, and he deftly turns the chair so he’s now centered between my legs. When I grip the back of his head, he suddenly lifts me up and we’re moving, my legs tightening around his waist as we go. His hands slide up the bottom of my shirt, stroking the small of my back and dipping down into my underwear as he stops beside the wall.
Holding me with one hand, he pulls my bed from the wall and lays me back on the lowered mattress, keeping himself on top of me. His lips persistently kiss away at all my heartache. My thighs clench him to me, relishing the feel of his weight. His pressure. His closeness. It’s comforting. It’s soothing. It’s all-encompassing. I yearn for him to fill a space in me that I didn’t even realise existed until this moment.
What happens next is like nothing I ever imagined. Expected. Or asked for.
Camden Harris makes love to me.
Slow, tender, passionate love.
He gently peels off every article of my clothing and then his own. His eyes hold me so captive that I can’t even bring myself to glance at his body on display before me. His muscles were something that I admired before. They distracted my thoughts on more than one occasion. But right now, all I can look at are his eyes on mine as he lowers himself onto me.
The firmness of him against the softness of me.
His blue eyes swim back and forth, sparkling with something. Something profound. Something I want to feel with my bare hands. Something I want to reach out and pull inside of me—to hold and to cherish, even if it is just for a short time.
He inhales sharply when his naked tip brushes between my legs. His voice is rough and pained when he says, “Indie, you don’t even know what you are. You don’t even know what you do to me.”
My breath comes in harsh and goes out shaky.
“I’ve never, in my life, cared like this,” he murmurs against my lips. “I feel different with you.”
My abs tighten against his body when his thumb trails over my nipple.
“You’re different,” he whispers into my ear. “You’re special,” he says against my cheek. “You’re challenging.” He closes the space between us and kisses me deeply.
